As part of the “Sustainable Production” project, the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste (BFDK) has developed the “Sustainable Production” toolkit in cooperation with the Verband Freie Darstellende Künste Bayern, the Landesverband der Freien Theater in Sachsen, the LaFT - Landesverband Freie Darstellende Künste in Niedersachsen, the NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland and FREO - Freie Ensembles und Orchester in a participatory process:
Toolkit „Sustainable Production“ of the BFDK
The toolkit
Sustainability is a process. And the “Sustainable Production” toolkit is a companion for this process. It is aimed at those involved in the (independent) performing arts and the independent music scene: artists, production managers, technicians, event organizers, artistic directors and all those who help shape and take responsibility for artistic processes. The toolkit is not a checklist to be worked through, but a toolbox to help discover possible courses of action. After all, sustainable action does not have to be linked to major investments and structural measures. Many steps towards greater sustainability are quite simple. For example: reusing props, borrowing technology instead of buying it and buying locally instead of from large online retailers.
The toolkit contains more than 200 measures that enable sustainable action in artistic production contexts.
How you can get involved
We can only tackle climate change together. That is why we are calling on all institutions, associations, individual actors, collectives and artists to take the first steps towards greater sustainability and spread the toolkit further into the scene.
A total of three workshops on the topic of ‘Green Mobility’ were held as part of the Kreativ-Transfer programme. The topic of sustainable travel has been a focus since the start of the programme, as extensive travel costs were supported. The last and third qualification workshop took place in summer 2025.
In this workshop, we took a look at the insights from our previous events in 2021 and 2022 and discussed together with all participants what mobility management looks like today. What sustainable practices are already established and what challenges do we face when travelling internationally? How can we harmonise ecological, social and economic sustainability?
We shared our experiences with green mobility measures, discussed successful examples and searched for solutions together. The workshop offered space for a cross-industry exchange to reflect on the impact of our travel on the carbon footprint and develop sustainable approaches.
A summary you can find here.
The Touring Artists information portal for internationally mobile artists and creative professionals offers extensive information on the topics of mobility and sustainability, handbooks and guides.
In addition to practical questions concerning taxes, health insurance coverage, residence and work permits, aspects relating to sustainability in the everyday work of internationally active artists, creatives and organisers of cultural events are becoming more and more important. Due to globalisation processes, increasingly more commonplace international exchange and the associated increase in mobility, questions regarding the reduction of the ecological footprint, environmentally-conscious travel and resource-conserving work are becoming more and more pressing for the individual.